How diamond rings silence Zimbabwe's foreign press

The Hong Kong police announced on Monday they would
investigate the alleged assault on photographer Richard Jones by Zimbabwe's
first lady, Grace Mugabe, while she was on vacation. On January 15, Jones
claimed Mugabe ordered her bodyguard to hold the photographer down while she
punched him repeatedly in the face near Hong Kong's
exclusive Shangri-la
Hotel, according to wire reports.

Jones, on a freelance assignment for London's
daily The Sunday Times, managed to catch
Mugabe outside one of Hong Kong's famous shopping centers in the KowloonPeninsula. The photos were meant for a story
showing the contrast between the first lady's extravagant lifestyle and the
plight of people in Zimbabwe,
Times correspondent Michael Sheridan reported.

The 42-year-old photographer managed to see this contrast up
close and personal. Jones had nine cuts across his face from Mugabe punching
him repeatedly, according
to wire reports. "She had several diamond rings that were acting like
knuckledusters," Jones told The Times.

Many Zimbabwean
journalists are all too familiar with such rough treatment. Photojournalist Shadreck
Manyere has been in police custody since last November, despite asserting
that he has been tortured. Journalists who spoke to CPJ last year referred to
the post-election recount as the worst period for journalists
in Zimbabwe's
history, as state-sanctioned violence mounted. But Mugabe's regime has learned
to use other, less obvious measures to silence the press.

According to the newspaper, Mugabe, known as the "the First
Shopper of Zimbabwe," and her entourage spent 2,000 pounds (US$2,780) per day
on luxuries like a Jimmy Choo bag while her country faces unprecedented
inflation rates that have forced Zimbabwe's central bank to introduce notes
denominated in trillions.
Where does Mugabe get diamond-encrusted rings in such a dire economy?

In some small part, Mugabe and his friends may fatten their
coffers by bilking those they despise most: foreign journalists and Zimbabweans
working
for foreign media outlets. On
January 6, the Zimbabwean government announced exorbitant hikes
in fees for foreign media. Foreign correspondents in Zimbabwe must
now pay an application fee of US$10,000 and a further US$22,000 for
accreditation and permits. Even worse, local journalists working for foreign
media organizations pay up to US$4,000 in fees--an amount few Zimbabweans can
afford in light of the current economy.

Even local newspapers that are printed outside of
Zimbabwe are a source of government income. The government imposed a
massive price hike last June on the import tax paid by private weekly The
Zimbabwean, which is printed in South Africa and shipped into the
country. According to Editor Wilf Mbanga, the government increased the tax from
5 percent to 70 percent of the cover price. "We have had to reduce our
circulation from 200,000 to 60,000," Mbanga told CPJ. "It is obvious the
government is trying to hurt us economically. This method is a lot easier form
of censorship for the government instead of closing us down directly."

The payments must be made in foreign currency, Mbanga said,
in either American dollars or South African rands--money the ruling party could
potentially use with exchange rates designed in their favor. Other papers
imported into Zimbabwe from South Africa,
such as The Sowetan,
do not face the same import duty taxes for unclear reasons.

The net result of these arbitrary price hikes on the foreign
press may be less critical reporting on a country whose situation grows more dire
by the day. The U.N. estimates that over half the population is in need of food
aid and more than 2,000 people have died of cholera since August. The ruling
party's war of attrition
against critical journalism may eventually succeed in silencing such startling
estimates where direct
censorship against journalists in Zimbabwe has failed.

Tom Rhodes is CPJ's East Africa representative, based in Nairobi. Rhodes is a founder of southern Sudan’s first independent newspaper. Follow him on Twitter: @africamedia_CPJ

Comments

'Foreigners' are not allowed to work in Zimbabwe as journalists for more than six months. For both application and accreditation to work as journalists they pay US$1,500. Foreign media organisations that want to have offices in Zimbabwe pay US$10,000 application fee, and US$20,000 registration fees. An US$2,000 additional complimentary fee is also required.

My heart goes to you hopefully you get well soon, I thank you for reporting all the information which always goes unreported Mrs Mugabe should be ashamed of her greedy acts whiles Zimbabweans are dying and she continues her sprees a fisrt lady who thinks of themselves the taxpayer's money what goes around comes around the fisrt will be the last. Children are dying crossing to South Africa in search for work and security, shelter, food etc. SHE SHOULD BE EMBARASSED.